Public Lands Foundation Honors Kemmerer Field Office Partners

The Public Lands Foundation (PLF) recognized the Willow Creek Coordinated Resource Management Plan Team (Team) Tuesday with a Landscape Stewardship Award which honors private citizens and organizations that work to advance and sustain community-based stewardship on landscapes that include public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

Willow Creek Team permittees with the Landscape Stewardship Award.

Bill Sears and George Collins receive their certificates from Don Schramm.

Carson Hughes accepts his certificate from Don Schramm.

Team members include adjacent landowners and permittees, Bureau of Land Management employees, Natural Resource Conservation Service permittees, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Uinta County Conservation District, Uinta County Cattlewomen, Uinta County Extension Office, U.S. Forest Service, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the Wyoming State Forester.

Team resource projects have improved habitat for pronghorn, elk, deer, moose, beaver, Sage-Grouse, and Colorado River cutthroat trout. In addition, the Team has fostered years of community involvement, including educational events such as grade school students planting willow cuttings and aspen and conducting water quality tests, and provided educational tours and programs.

The PLF also presented Landscape Stewardship Certificates of Appreciation to Bill Sears and George Collins for their work on the Albert Creek Allotment and to Carson Hughes for his volunteer work with archeological, paleontological, rangeland and riparian monitoring, native seed collecting and recreation.

The ceremony was held at the BLM Kemmerer Field Office with PLF member Don Schramm presenting the award and certificates. “The Public Lands Foundation is pleased to recognize the Willow Creek Coordinated Resource Management Plan Team, Bill Sears, George Collins and Carson Hughes for their invaluable contributions and for maintaining the tradition of public stewardship of America’s lands,” stated Schramm.

"The Kemmerer Field Office is very grateful for the hard work of these groups and individuals and their significant accomplishments toward the stewardship of public land," concluded Kemmerer Field Manager Jeromy Caldwell.

The Public Lands Foundation is a national nonprofit organization, which is made up predominately of retired Bureau of Land Management employees, that advocates and works for the retention of the National System of Public Lands in public hands, professionally and sustainably managed for the responsible common use and enjoyment of the American people.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In Fiscal Year 2013, the BLM generated $4.7 billion in receipts from public lands.